Casting machine with removable casting ring



Sept. 2, 1969 T. L. BRAY 3,

CASTING MACHINE WITH REMOVABLE CASTING RING Filed April 27, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1 a I I I I Q lfl I l I lililillllll v M F K.

p T ifi'i i 'ifil'lii lHllllllHl IN 'ITN'IOR. 77/04/45 A. Bear Arrow/5 r5 CASTING MACHINE WITH REMOVABLE CASTING RING Filed April 27, 1967 T. L. BRAY Sept. 2, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3,464,484 CASTING MACHINE WITH REMOVABLE CASTING RING Thomas L. Bray, Birmingham, Ala., assignor to Southwire Company, Carrollton, Ga., a corporation of Georgia Filed Apr. 27, 1967, Ser. No. 634,198 Int. Cl. B2211 11/06 U.S. Cl. 164278 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE What is disclosed herein is a casting machine having a casting wheel with a casting ring which is easily and conveniently removed from the casting machine and which is easily and conveniently disassembled from supporting structure for repair or replacement. Specifically, the casting wheel is disclosed as including a mounting plate by which the casting wheel is mounted for rotation and against which one of a plurality of flanges having an annular casting ring between them is positioned with a beveled support surface of the mounting plate engaging a complementary beveled support surface of the flange. The casting ring is positioned between the flanges with a beveled support surface engaging a complementary beveled support surface of each flange and all of the beveled support surfaces are positioned so that the flanges, casting ring, and mounting plate tend to be urged apart to provide for ease of removal from the casting machine and of disassembly.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION Field of invention This invention relates generally to continuous casting apparatus having a rotatable casting wheel with a peripheral groove closed by an endless band to form a casting mold and more particularly to a casting machine in which the annular casting ring of a casting wheel is easily and quickly separated from the rest of the casting machine.

Prior art Continuous casting machines having a casting wheel with a peripheral groove closed by an endless band to form a casting mold are well known in the metal foundry art. These casting machines generally use an annular casting ring and supporting structure to form the casting wheel. Typical of the supporting structure is a circular mounting plate which is attached to and rotated by the drive shaft of the casting machine and an annular flange by which the casting ring is positioned against the mounting plate.

One of the problems associated with prior art casting machines is that the annular flange and the mounting plate of the casting wheel frequently freeze to the casting ring so that it is diflicult to disassemble the casting wheel and remove the casting ring when replacement of the casting ring is required. This freezing results from the temperature variations that take place during the casting of molten metal in the casting wheel.

Another problem associated with prior art casting machines is that the assembly and disassembly of the casting wheel is also made diflicult by the necessity of using one hoist to hold the casting ring in place against the mounting plate while a second hoist is used to hold the annular States Patent C) 3,464,484 Patented Sept. 2, 1969 flange in place against the casting ring. The requirement for the coordinated use of two hoists makes the assembly and disassembly of the casting Wheel awkward and increases the maintenance and operating cost of a casting machine.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION These and other problems and disadvantages associated with prior art casting machines are overcome by the invention disclosed herein since it provides a casting machine with a casting ring which does not freeze to a mounting flange or a mounting plate of the casting wheel. Thus, the casting wheel may be easily disassembled for removal of the casting ring from the casting machine when maintenance or replacement of the casting ring is required.

Moreover, the invention provides a pair of annular flanges which support the casting ring and which may be disassembled from or assembled with the casting ring while the casting ring is removed from the casting machine. Thus, when it is necessary to replace a casting ring, the casting ring and the annular flanges are hoisted into position adjacent the mounting plate as a unit with a single hoist and one of the annular flanges is attached to the mounting plate of the casting wheel. The reverse of this procedure is used to remove the casting ring and annular flanges as a unit from the casting machine so that both the placing and removing of the casting wheel are relatively easy to accomplish in a minimum of time using only one hoist.

A casting machine embodying the invention disclosed herein comprises generally a casting wheel having a casting ring with beveled support surfaces which are engaged by complementary beveled support surfaces of a pair of annular flanges when the casting ring is placed between the annular flanges. The casting wheel also includes a mounting plate which has a beveled support surface for engaging a complementary beveled support surface of one of the annular flanges that is bolted to the mounting plate. The beveled support surfaces and the complementary beveled support surfaces at which the casting ring, annular flanges, and mounting plate engage each other when assembled provide components of force which tend to separate the annular flanges, the casting ring, and the mounting plate from each other when removal or disassembly of all or part of the casting wheel is required.

These and other features and advantages of the invention will be more clearly understood upon consideration of the following detailed description and the accompanying drawing wherein like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout and in which:

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a casting machine embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded elevational view of the casting Wheel of the casting machine;

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view of the casting wheel of the casting machine taken in line 33 in FIG. 1 and shows the annular flanges joined to each other to support the casting ring; and,

FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view of the casting wheel of the casting machine taken in line 44 in FIG. 1 and shows one of the annular flanges joined to the mounting plate of the casting wheel.

These figures and the following detailed description disclose a specific embodiment of the invention, however, the inventive concept is not limited thereto since it may be embodied in other forms.

ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENT Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, it will be seen that the casting machine C includes a casting wheel having a peripheral groove G with a portion of its length closed by endless band 11 carried by two support wheels 12 and a third support wheel (not shown). The casting wheel 10 and band 11 form an arcuate casting mold M into which molten metal is poured from a pouring pot (not shown) at one end and discharged as solidified metal I from the other end in conventional manner.

The casting wheel 10 includes a mounting member such as a circular mounting plate 14 mounted on an axle A of the casting machine C which is rotatably driven by a motor assembly (not shown) so that the casting Wheel 10 can be rotated for the casting of molten metal in the mold M. The mounting plate 14 is provided with an integral annular support ring 15 concentrically located on the mounting plate 14 just inwardly of its peripheral edge. The support ring 15 has a beveled support surface 16 which is beveled outwardly from the mounting plate 14 and inwardly toward the center of the mounting plate 14 and axis of rotation of the mounting plate 14. It is on this beveled support surface 16 that a casting means such as a casting ring assembly 19 is positioned.

The casting ring assembly 19 is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 and includes a casting member such as an annular casting ring 20 and a plurality of support members such as a primary annular mounting flange 18 and a secondary annular mounting flange 21. The casting ring 20 defines the peripheral groove G and has a plurality of conventional heat transfer grooves 22 in its inner surface 41 and in its sides 42. In addition, the casting ring 20 has an annular recess 24 extending from each side 42 to its inner surface 41. Each annular recess 24 provides a beveled support surface 25 which is beveled inwardly from a side 42 and toward the center of the casting ring 20.

Each of the mounting flanges 18 and 21 is provided with a complementary beveled support surface 26 around its periphery adjacent a side which is complementary to a beveled support surface 25 of a recess 24 as shown in FIG. 3. When the mounting flanges 18 and 21 are forced toward each other with the casting ring 20 between them, the complementary beveled support surfaces 26 engage the beveled support surfaces 25 of the casting ring 20 and support the casting ring 20 between the mounting flanges 18 and 21.

Each of the mounting flanges 18 and 21 is L-shaped in cross-section with an extension forming a splash shield 29 to limit splashing of coolant spray or molten metal. In addition, the mounting flanges 18 and 21 have a plurality of aligned 'bolt holes 30 through which locking bolts 31 are inserted to serve as a means for urging the mounting flanges 18 and 21 against the casting ring 20.

The inner edge of the primary mounting flange 18 is beveled to provide a complementary beveled support surface 34 which is complementary to the beveled surface 16 of the support ring 15 as shown in FIG. 3. Thus, when the annular flange 18 is positioned against the mounting plate 14, the complementary beveled support surface 34 is engaged by the beveled support surface 16. The mounting flange 18 is provided with a plurality of bolt holes 35 through which mounting bolts 36 extend to be threadedly received in apertures 38 in the mounting plate 14 and provide a means for urging the casting ring assembly 19 against the mounting plate 14. Access openings 39 as seen in FIG. 3 are provided in the mounting plate 14 in alignment with each of the locking bolts 31 so that the annular flange 18 may be positioned against the mounting plate without interference by the locking bolts 31 and so that the mounting flanges 18 and 21 may be separated by release of the locking bolts 31 while the mounting flange 18 is still positioned on the mounting plate 14.

OPERATION It will now be understood that the mounting flanges 18 and 21, the casting ring 20, and the mounting plate 14 are positioned with respect to each other only by the beveled support surfaces 16 and 25 and the complementary beveled support surfaces 26 and 34 and by means for urging these surfaces 16, 25, 26 and 34 against each other. Moreover, it will also be understood that to replace a casting ring 20 on the casting machine C, a hoist (not shown) is attached to the casting ring assembly 19 and the mounting bolts 36 are removed from the mounting flange 18. This allows the casting ring assembly 19 to be removed from the mounting plate 14 since the beveled support surface 16 of the mounting plate 14 exerts a force against the complementary beveled support surface 34 of the mounting flange 18 which tends to force the mounting flange 18 away from the mounting plate 14.

A new casting ring assembly 19 which has been preassembled by attaching a second pair of annular flanges 18 and 21 to a new casting ring 20 with the locking bolts 31 is then lifted into place by the hoist (not shown) and the mounting bolts 36 installed through the bolt holes 35 in the mounting flange 18. Thus, the entire operation of replacing a casting ring 20 is relatively simple and results in a substantial saving of time over the time necessary for replacement of a prior art casting ring.

After it has been removed from the casting machine C, the old casting ring assembly 19 is easily disassembled by simply removing the locking bolts 31 from the flanges 18 and 21 to release the casting ring 20. This is because the beveled support surfaces 25 of the casting ring 20 exert forces on the complementary beveled support surfaces 26 which tend to urge the flanges 18 and 21 away from the casting ring 20 so that significant freezing of the flanges 18 and 21 to the casting ring 20 as in prior art casting machines is alleviated.

Although only one specific embodiment of the invention has been disclosed herein, it is understood that the full use of equivalents, modifications and substitutions may be utilized without departing from the scope thereof as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a casting machine; a mounting member rotatable about an axis of rotation and having a beveled support surface which is concentric about said axis of rotation and which is beveled inwardly toward said axis of rotation; casting means for providing a peripheral groove which is concentric about said axis of rotation and in which a molten metal is received for casting when said casting means is mounted on said mounting member, said casting means having a beveled support surface which is complementary to said beveled support surface of said mounting member when positioned against said beveled support surface of said mounting member; and positioning means for urging said beveled support surface of said casting means against said beveled support surface of said mounting member; said mounting member and said casting means being further characterized by the absence of complementary surfaces which are parallel with said axis of rotation when said beveled support surface of said casting means and said beveled surface of said mounting member are urged together by said positioning means.

2. The casting machine of claim 1 in which said casting means includes a pair of support members, and a casting member between said support members in which said peripheral groove is formed.

3. The casting machine of claim 2 in which said casting member is an annular casting ring having beveled support surfaces beveled inwardly toward its center and engaging complementary beveled support surfaces formed by said support members, all of said beveled support surfaces of said casting ring and said support members being positioned so that they fixedly position said casting ring relative to said support members when said support members are urged against said casting ring.

4. The casting machine of claim 3 including means for urging said support members against said casting ring.

5. The casting machine of claim 4 in which one of said support members defines said beveled support sur- References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/ 1967 Richards 164-278 5/1967 Bray et a1. 164-276 10 I. SPENCER OVERHOLSER, Primary Examiner JOHN S. BROWN Assistant Examiner 

